The heathen English called May Thrimilchi because the cattle were milked three times a day in that month. Bede took the name as a sign of how rich the pasture of Britain, or of the German homeland the English came from, had once been. It is part of his account of the old English year, not a Christian custom.
Thrimilchi, when cows gave milk three times a day
Printed under 1 May · England
Lore and belief
Tri-milchi dicebatur quod tribus vicibus in eo per diem pecora mulgebantur. Talis enim erat quondam ubertas Britanniæ, vel Germaniæ de qua in Britanniam natio intravit Anglorum.
From Bede's De Temporum Ratione, ch. 15, ed. Giles, vol. 6, p. 179. Read the original
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